Xbox Music Comes of Age

With the release this past week of Xbox Music apps for Android and iPhone, and improvements to the web client, Microsoft's next-generation online music service has finally come of age. I've been using this service since it came to life in the wake of Zune Music, but now you have no excuse. If you're a Windows user or are otherwise heavily invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, Xbox Music is a no-brainer. But even those with iPhones and Android will soon have few excuses. Xbox Music is the real deal.

It wasn't always that way, I know. And I know I'm still going to get complaints from those who find that it can't match their entire collection to the cloud or who still prefer old-school tools like the Zune PC software. Get over it, folks. The future has arrived. And Xbox Music is finally living up to its billing as the one service that can do it all.

What it does

Cribbing from my own book, Paul Thurrott's Xbox Music—which is now in need of a major update thanks to recent changes with the service (but you can download the latest version from SkyDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive—Xbox Music offers the following services.

Cloud collection. Arguably the core feature of Xbox Music, cloud collection is what separates this service most obviously from its predecessor, Zune, and from many rival services. Under the previous scheme, you were forced to duplicate your PC-based music collection—including albums and songs, of course, but also playlists—across your various PCs and devices. With Xbox Music and an Xbox Music Pass subscription, you can store all of your music in an Xbox-hosted cloud collection, sometimes referred to as an Xbox Music Pass collection, which will then be accessible from all of your compatible PCs and devices automatically. And an Xbox Music Pass subscription isn't even required on Windows devices and the web client.

Free music streaming. On Windows 8 and RT devices, and on Xbox Music for web, Microsoft offers free music streaming from its catalog of 30 million-plus songs. This feature allows users to listen to individual songs or full albums for free on their Windows 8 PCs and Windows RT tablets, even if they don’t pay for an Xbox Music Pass subscription. This feature is advertising supported and is only unlimited for the first six months. After that, it is limited to 10 hours of streaming per month.

Xbox Music Store. Like rival services such as Apple iTunes, Amazon MP3 and Google Play Music, Xbox Music does of course allow you to purchase the music you want to own, in this case via the Xbox Music Store. The purchase experience works as you would expect, though those with Xbox Music Pass subscriptions may find that the need to actually buy music has essentially disappeared.

Playlists. Lists of songs that can be played together as a group, playlists are like the modern version of a mix tape, a way for to organize songs you like, or that go together well, in a cohesive, way, much like a traditional radio. Xbox Music of course support playlists on each of the supported platforms, and the playlists you create automatically sync to your cloud collection so they are available from all your devices. That latter feature is a huge benefit of Xbox Music. Note that Xbox Music does not currently support dynamic playlists. Instead, it only supports basic playlists.

Radio. Still called by its previous name Smart DJ in Windows Phone only, helps you create a special kind of dynamic playlist, called a radio station (formerly a Smart DJ mix), which is based on “seed” music and includes content from your collection and, depending on the situation, from the voluminous Xbox Music cloud-based library. Radio stations can include music from both your own collection and from your Xbox Music Store, but you need to be online for these mixes to work. If you have an Xbox Music Pass, radio stations created on each platform—Windows 8/RT, Windows Phone 8, and Xbox 360—will include music from the Xbox Music cloud-based library.

Music Match. Xbox Music lets you move your existing music collection—which you may have acquired by ripping audio CDs, purchasing digital music from other services, or other means—to your personal cloud collection. This functionality is called music match, and it works manually or automatically in Xbox Music for Windows 8/RT only. One issue is that Xbox Music can't upload your music if it doesn't exist in Xbox Music Store; I expect this feature to appear over time.

Xbox Music Pass. A monthly or annual subscription service, Xbox Music Pass lets you stream much of the music in Microsoft’s voluminous online music catalog with your Windows 8/RT PC or device, Windows Phone 8 handset, Android or iOS device, or Xbox 360. And on Windows 8/RT and Windows Phone 8, you can also download music from the service to your devices for offline use. This includes music in your own cloud collection as well as music in Xbox Music Store. Xbox Music Pass is comparable to services like Spotify Premium or Rhapsody Premier Plus in that it provides unlimited monthly streaming on compatible devices, lets you download music for offline use on a set number of devices, comes with no advertising of any kind, and integrates with other platform features that help you discover new music, like Radio. It’s also a reasonable expense for music lovers: Xbox Music Pass costs $9.99 per month, but you can sign up for a 12 month Music Pass for $99.90, which works out to just $8.35 per month, which is like getting two months free per year. (And if you’re not sure if you want Xbox Music Pass, Microsoft offers a free 30-day trial so you can see how the service works with your own devices.)

Xbox Music for Web. Microsoft makes a subset of Xbox Music features available via Xbox Music for Web. This web-based jukebox requires an online connection of course, but is free and provides streaming access to your Xbox cloud collection, including playlists, as well as Xbox Music Store content, from any web browser. This means that you can access some Xbox Music features from platforms that don’t natively support Xbox Music—like Windows XP, Vista and 7, or Mac OS X—or from a work or friend’s computer.

Xbox Music for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Android handsets and tablets. Microsoft recently released the initial versions of Xbox Music apps for iOS and Android. Like Xbox Music for Web, these clients require an Xbox Music Pass and an online connection, and provide streaming-only access to your Xbox cloud collection, including playlists, as well as Xbox Music Store content. So while the current versions don't have download capabilities, this functionality will be added soon, and I expect Xbox Music for iOS and Android to be comparable to what's available on Windows Phone 8 by the end of the year.

Xbox SmartGlass/Play on Xbox. Though it’s not strictly an Xbox Music feature, Microsoft provides an amazing degree of integration between the various platforms that support Xbox Music via Play on Xbox, which requires a separate mobile app called Xbox SmartGlass on Windows 8/RT and Windows Phone 8. (It’s also available on iPhone/iPad and Android.) Play on Xbox allows you to redirect the playback of music content from your PC, device, or Windows Phone 8 handset to the console, so that playback continues only on the latter. As with many Xbox Music features, it only works with content that can be found in the Xbox Music Store, and that content must be licensed for streaming. (Most of it is.) Once the music begins playing on the Xbox, you can continue to control playback, and learn more about the music you’re listening to, from your Windows 8/RT device or Windows Phone 8 handset. So in this sense, the Xbox SmartGlass lets your device function like a large and intelligent remote control.

What you can do without an Xbox Music Pass

As I wrote in Paul Thurrott's Xbox Music, the best possible Xbox Music experience can be had with an Xbox Music Pass. But if you're just getting your feet wet and want to see whether Xbox Music lives up to the hype, you can do a lot for free, especially if you're using Windows 8 or Windows RT. Here's what you get at no cost:

Windows 8/RT. Using the Xbox Music app, you can match your own music collection to the cloud and create your cloud collection ... for free. This includes albums, playlists, and radio stations. You can also access Xbox Music Store and buy music, which is also added to your collection (and downloaded to your PC). You also get free, unlimited streaming of all Xbox Music Store content for 6 months and then 10 hours of streaming after that.

Xbox Music in Windows 8.1

Web. With Xbox Music for web, you can access your cloud collection, including all matched albums and songs, and your playlists. (Radio is coming soon.) You also get free, unlimited streaming of all Xbox Music Store content for 6 months and then 10 hours of streaming after that.

The curiously similar Xbox Music for Web

Windows Phone 8. While you cannot access your cloud collection on Windows Phone, you can sync that content to the phone using the Windows Phone mobile or desktop app (your choice).

What you can do with an Xbox Music Pass

Add an Xbox Music Pass, and you get the full meal deal. This includes:

Windows 8/RT. Free music streaming is now unlimited for the lifetime of the subscription. And you can add music from Xbox Music Store to your collection, or download it to your PC.

Windows Phone 8. Now you can access your cloud collection automatically, including all albums, songs, and playlists (but not radio stations). You can download or add music to your collection.

Xbox. You can now access your cloud collection and playlists from the console and create Xbox 360-specific radio stations. You can stream (but not download) any music in Xbox Music Store. Xbox 360 access is streaming-only and also requires an Xbox Live Gold subscription.

iOS and Android. You can now access Xbox Music for iOS and Android. This includes streaming-only access to your Xbox cloud collection, including playlists, as well as Xbox Music Store content.

Xbox Music still has some holes, yes, though I expect all the wrinkles to be ironed out by year-end. Regardless, it really does live up to its billing as the only all-in-one music service. It's what I use, and prefer, and what I recommend. All Windows users should at least evaluate this service, and even the free (non-Music Pass version) is pretty amazing. At the very least, get your collection matched to the cloud—for free—and see how it goes.

Discuss this Article 84

Am I the only one who loved the curated playlists from Zune? I used the workout playlists and the genre playlists created by zune employees all the time. I wish Microsoft will come back to this feature in a bug way. If they are able to add a service like Songza they could have something HUGE!

this is my most frequently posted topic, so apologies for the redundancy.

I love Xbox Music. I love it on my Surface Pro, Surface RT, Xbox @ home - now on my iPad, iPad mini, over the web ...

I despise it on my Windows Phone. It doesn't work. See I'm one of those strange people that are still trying to keep "work and play" somewhat separated... this mostly impacts me with SkyDrive for this comment. I have a play account and a work account (@live). On my Windows Phone, I have my work account. My Xbox music pass lives under my play account. See the issue? No Xbox music on my phone. I really wish MS would either 1) allow individual account logins for the "service based applications" (SkyDrive, Music... ) or 2) all my to associate more than one @live account with my Xbox Music Pass. I'd be ok with either :)

It is kind of annoying that to really be able to do what I want to do -- segment my services by device and account - that I should move (back) to an iPhone ... I don't want that, I am trying to get my iPhone friends on to MS Lumias ...

Anyway... I'll keep posting this where I can and maybe someone will change this at MS.

Except you would potentially end up with frustrated family members since only one person can stream music at the same time. And there seems to be a delay between when you stop streaming on a device, before you are able to stream on another device. I've run into this with my Windows Phone while testing out Xbox Music on an old iPhone.

I have one issue with the article, and then 2 minor problems (never seem minor when they occur.

First, you said above that there was no way for Windows Phone to access your cloud. I am not sure what you mean by that as I have added music from the PC and from the Web and seen it show on my phone, eventually. Maybe I am not understanding. I can also show what is on the phone, and what is in the cloud or both, allowing me to free up disc space by eliminating files on the phone and relying on the cloud collection.

My two problems. One listed above is that music I have ripped from CD which is not in the Xbox Music store, can be seen, but not played if it is not physically on the device. For example, music purchased overseas, such as a foreign band will show up, but not play. But the same would be true of things such as The Beatles, all ripped from my collection, but unavailable through Xbox. I have kept physical copies of some of this on my phone, but it would be unavailable in some places.

Next, I ran into an interesting (read infuriating) error this weekend. Music on my device would not play as it stated it was being streamed on another device. Likely, I had not closed the Xbox Music on my PC. Therefore while out and about, it would not play on my phone.

Paul I have to disagree with you here. To me Xbox Music is still a mess. For background, I'm totally invested in MS's ecosystem. WP user since 2010, Xbox 360, Xbox Gold subscriber, Xbox Music pass subscriber, Surface RT, Windows 8 PC (and many Win7 PCs), Office 365….

- Lack of NAS support/Windows Library restrictions. My entire collection of music files is on a NAS. My home office uses Win7 computers for a bunch of reasons, so I use the Zune client to listen and manage my music...was able to "trick" Zune to seeing the collection on the NAS (using your tips).

- My Win8/Xbox Music PC, can't see the NAS using the same work around. The only way to load up my collection on my Windows 8 PC and Xbox Music? Copy the whole collection to the host PC. That's just stupid.

- So now with my collection COPIED to Windows 8 and Xbox Music, it starts to match to the cloud. Great. My Surface RT, WP8 and Xbox 360 can now see and use this huge cloud collection. Great. Only thing is I have a lot of Asian music...which of course doesn't have a cloud match, so none of this music is available. And, to tell you the truth, having thousands of songs on your phone with no good way to organize them, isn’t actually a good thing. I find it actually kind of useless. AND, if you have a limited data plan, streaming your cloud collection for hours at a time, could get to be expensive.

- The only way to get this non cloud matched music onto my other devices (really only WP), is to old fashion sync it. Trying to sync a WP8 to Xbox Music is also useless. Plug in your phone and the metro WP software opens on your computer. Click the button to add music. That takes you to a metro file explorer where the user is supposed to sift through hundreds of directories and thousands of files to add music to the phone. Dumb. Ain’t going to happen. So I tried to create a playlist on Xbox Music and “sync” the playlist to my phone.

- Creating a playlist on Xbox Music is lame compared to Zune. As Paul stated, no dynamic lists. So I go through the trouble of adding my favorite non-cloud matched Asian music to an Xbox Music static playlist and try to sync it, or add it to the phone. Plug in the phone, the metro WP software opens, click "add playlist" and vola, nothing. After searching Microsoft’s support site, come to find out that even though the option to add a playlist is in the WP metro software, it doesn't actually do anything. Really, really, really stupid!

- Ahhh, but Xbox Music’s playlist sync via the cloud you say. Yes, but only the music that is in your cloud collection will show up on your cloud-matched playlist on WP8 or my Surface. So my manually setup playlist of Asian music still can’t be added to my phone unless I drag and drop individual files via Explorer. Wow, talk about 1990’s.

- So I head back to my Win7 environment and Zune. I can go back and use the equally bad WP App for Desktop software and sync my Zune playlists. But now after going through this Win8/Xbox Music exercise on my WP8, when I try to sync Zune to my phone, I get all kinds of strange problems…and non-DRM music that USED to be on my phone, now give me errors saying it can’t be added.

- Going to the local Microsoft store proved pointless. While there are good people there, they are also baffled by how to properly use Xbox Music with WP8 and get it to do what you really want to do. I probably need to wipe my phone and start all over.

So, Paul, I totally disagree that Xbox Music is ready for prime time. And before you say that my case is an exception, and that MS can’t cover all these issues. If they had simply used the Zune software as a starting point, rebranded it Xbox, and added cloud matching…we’d be good to go. Real dynamic playlists, podcast support, ability to simply add music and playlists to your phone ala WP7/Zune, wireless syncing with Zune…

Bottom line: Zune worked, it was good. Better than iTunes. The ONLY thing Xbox Music has going for it is cloud matching. WP7 and Zune worked great back in 2010. WP8 and Xbox Music in 2013 is crap!

Totally agreed Hoku. And no, your case is not an exception. With almost 20,000 views and several hundred "Need Answers" and Helpful Votes, I think the Master List of Issues with XBox Music on WP8 thread proves so.

Are Microsoft having a laugh? I can run XBox Music on my old Iphone, my Ipad, my Windows 8 PC but not my Nokia Lumia 800 with Windows Phone 7.8?
Surely this is not a technical limitation but Microsoft not being able to justify the cost of creating an application for WP7?
I would have expected that excuse from 3rd party Devs but not the creator of the damn OS!

Am I the only one experiencing a very irritating problem with Xbox Music? When I try to play more than one track of music, it errors and I have to close and reopen the program to get it to play again. This happens even when I'm streaming a radio station. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the app, which fixes it for a little while, and then it starts doing it again. I will not pay a subscription fee for something that won't even do what it is designed to do!

The problem I have with Xbox Music, is that it crashes when I try to play more than one track. After starting to play, say, a radio station created by Xbox Music, it plays a song, sometimes two, and then crashes. I try to play from my collection, and I get the same problem. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app, then it will work a few days, but inevitably, goes back to it's stupid ways. I would think that at the very least, the app should be able to do what it was designed to do, or am I being stupid here?

The service is definitely improving. However podcasting services are getting weaker. Two of my podcasts are now removed from the Xbox podcasting in favor of a streaming cloud app (WSJ and CNBC Suzy Orman). This does not help me as I depend on the Xbox subscription feature to download my podcasts so I can listen to them when I have no wifi or cell phone signal to my Windows 8 phone.

I'm making the transition but I'm having problems figuring one thing out. I have a Win 8 machine and Win Phone 8 and have an XBox Music account. I have created playlists by exploring songs and adding them to the playlists and they show up fine on the web access or the Win 8 client app but not on my phone. The playlists are there but not all the songs. Why is this?

only issue for me is cant stream using xbox music and SONOS. Neither company seems to want to comment on what or why and its so frustrating as together they make an awesome solutions for whole house music. So I pay for Spotify but would prefer XBOX music on my wp, xbox, tablet and PC shame

+1 This: "If they had simply used the Zune software as a starting point, rebranded it Xbox, and added cloud matching…we’d be good to go. Real dynamic playlists, podcast support, ability to simply add music and playlists to your phone ala WP7/Zune, wireless syncing with Zune…

"Bottom line: Zune worked, it was good. Better than iTunes. The ONLY thing Xbox Music has going for it is cloud matching. WP7 and Zune worked great back in 2010. WP8 and Xbox Music in 2013 is crap!" ---Hoku.

We may live in a wireles world, Paul, in North America and Europe. But offering a cloud streaming service to the rest of the world is a joke. I've been to Central America, South America, Africa,and Pacific Island nations in the past 12 months. It would have cost me a fortune at local net access rates to stream music, when it was even speedwise feasible (which was seldom). Even in Australia, streaming music via the cloud us only really feasible on your home network. Forget mobile--too cost prohibitive.

A little off topic, but it will illustrate a point. We had this discussion a couple of years ago in the comments section of a tech article that was relegating Libre Office (Open Office) to the scrapheap. Cloud services all the way! Yeah right. Ever tried being productive in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea using Cloud Service software? Just getting email is an accomplishment, let alone any thing else.

Xbox Music has come of age? For a few of us it may have. For the rest, Zune software on the desktop wins hands down. Oh, and in my opinion, it is the most aesthetically pleasing piece of software MS has ever published. Can't beat the parallax screen view of playing now music, especially on a large monitor in the living room. When XBox Music restores the full feature set of Zune, then it may have come of Age for me.

Being a user in a region (Sweden) where free streaming on Windows 8/RT and the web is not supported there are some features that seem to require free streaming that, obvioulsly, isn't available.

Firstly, in my region there is no possibility to sync my own collection (i.e. ripped CDs and/or music purchased from iTunes) to my cloud collection for free (unless I get a Music Pass, in which case it isn't free). Is this Cloud Collection/Music Locker functionality implemented using the free streaming? If that's the case, it is rather limited as there is a limit on the amount of music you can stream (10h/month) and that music is, presumably, DRM-protected (doesn't work with Play To, for example).

Secondly, there is no way to redownload purchased music on the Windows 8/RT Xbox Music app. At least not in my region. It works on Windows Phone 8 where purchased music appears in my cloud collection where I can choose to make music availble offline. The Windows 8/RT app doesn't seem to have the concept of a cloud collection (at least not in my region).

So really there isn't any free version since the first 6 months are just a promo...and no free mobile app, or offline play. Seems kind of half cooked to me. Maybe if they improve it in the future, but for now I'll stick to grooveshark and torch music.

Only have to do it once? Yeah thats what I thought with Zune. I spent hours fixing my collection in Zune thinking its a one time thing. I guess it wasnt, and im not doing it again until I trust MS is actually sticking to this.

Well I have a Lumia 900 running WP 7.8 so I have to use the Zune desktop interface to sync, purchase, play, etc. XBox music won't apparently work with non-WP 8 handsets. From what everyone is saying, I guess I'm not losing much. Why didn't they just do a name change on the software if it meant so much to them. The old Zune was best, where you could keep 10 tracks per month DRM-free. Now that's not even offered anymore. Frankly, I'd rather go to Nokia Music if they ever start offering the ability to purchase tracks.

I agree with you completely. I almost always agree with Paul, but not on this for the reasons you state. Why should we have to "get over it"? I don't want to have to "make do" and I shouldn't have to. MS had almost a perfect system already in Zune and they could have just tweaked it for W8/WP8 and Paul has said so in the past.

BTW Hoku, I think MS listens but they don't get around to doing anything for a few years when they are far, far behind and it is killing them as a result. Should we really have to continue making excuses for MS? I think many of us have developed Stockholm Syndrome with MS.

I have A LOT of albums I've created from various artists or from one artist from different albums that I laboriously crafted with mp3tag. What will happen to those with Xbox music? Will it be as bad as I fear it will?

I second again again Hoku on his post. I'm a MS poster child as well but the lack of NAS support just drives me nuts. I will definitely love to move onto Xbox music but this is a show stopper. Moving my music collection to my PC is not an option, it definitely wasn't a requirement in Zune, it just worked.

> And I know I'm still going to get complaints from those who find that it can't match their entire collection to the cloud or who still prefer old-school tools like the Zune PC software.
I've been using it since the Zune days too, Paul. But there are still serious problems with Xbox Music:

The inability to manage the Cloud Collection at all from Windows Phone.

Converting a subscription-downloaded song to a purchased song on the phone does not add it to your Cloud Collection, and consequently, you never get the DRM-free version on your PCs.

Xbox Music on Windows 8 constantly tries to rematch songs I've manually matched back to incorrect albums. Almost every day I have to fix them.

It's a great service in theory, but just like it did a year ago, it still needs a lot of work to come close to what Microsoft threw away with Zune. A rebrand and cloud sync was all Zune needed, no reinvention of the wheel.

Paul, I totally disagree. XBM is lacking so many features compared to Zune its not even close.
No syncing playlists only importing TO app
No synicing at all
Does not sort by owned and XBMP songs
Can't buy multiple tracks at once onlysingle songs and full albums
Slow at times
Very harsh looking ui that is not customizable

IMO, untill we getthe same features XBM is a failure. I used to spend hours on my laptop Zuning now I baely buy music any more. I keep hoping they will fix it but they havemt. My advice, find another complete app until this one is completed. Fyi, I'm a XBMP subscriber.

Paul, I think it would make a fascinating read, if you, as one of the premier MS watchers in the media, or maybe Mary Jo, were able to land an interview with the manager at MS who oversees Xbox Music. No, not for a public lynching, but a serious sit down to discuss exactly what MS is trying to do here, why they've given up a well liked, mature software in Zune, and replaced it with a lobotomized orphan that is Xbox Music. Yeah, yeah, move to the cloud....blah blah... But there are some serious issues here that need to be addressed. MS employee are real people. I can't believe there would be many of these people who think that this service as it stands now is "good." Maybe most MS employees must be using iPhones.

I, like many of your readers here, WANT Microsoft to succeed, but this mess that is Xbox Music and Windows Phone has pretty much made me stop trying to recommend WP to my friends.

You started your article with a rather flippant, "get over it" statement. Well, it's really hard for some of us to get over the fact that this "service" doesn't do some really basic stuff that we had in 2010, but now don't have in 2013. That's going backwards. That's hard to "get over."

I feel like I'm using such a hybrid approach at the moment. I have a bunch of CDs (not as many as some people, but my fair share), and I've ripped 90% of them to my Zune HD, using the Zune software. But over the past year or two I've started to purchase music online from sources such as Amazon and Xbox Music. I also like to have the Windows 8 Xbox Music app open when I work on my desktop and listen to music while I do other things. I don't plan on buying physical media that much anymore (unless it's a hard-to-find CD), but I'm right in the middle of this transition where I'm using methods from the past and the present. I like Xbox Music and haven't experienced many problems with it, but I see from the comments here that when everybody has very specific needs, problems are bound to be exposed. I hope Microsoft can address these issues.

I think the as great as the Xbox music is it failed in one crucial area and making me reconsider the whole experience. and that is with the Xbox directly. I should not have to pay an additional fee to play the music pass on my Xbox. it is called Xbox music yet despite the fact the each family member is already paying 99 a year for the pass they want me to pay an addition 60 per family member to play it on the Xbox. How in the hell is this even practical. it is the only platform that requires this. I don't have to do that on my widows phone or my surface. Really considering not renewing the Xbox pass and not getting the Xbox one for this fact alone. I am disgusted with this. I don't need a subscription to do this with comparative apps on the PlayStation or the Wii. How can MS expect me to do it with them. I am just infuriated over this. If I were to pay that it would cost me over 420 a year for the family just to listen to music.

Sorry for the rant but really upsets me. In fact I don't understand why you need a gold live account unless your playing games with friends online. Considering seriously giving up my MS only ecosystem and going to an Apple ecosystem with a Wii since Apple does not offer that platform "yet".

Sorry to pile on so late, but I have had a zune pass for years. I wanted XBM to be good. I updated my laptop with the trial version of win 8.1 just to get XBM and I have tried and tried to like it, but tonight was the final straw. My kid wanted a song on his 3DS that I had been playing on my WP7 so I bought and downloaded the song which came in WMA format and the 3DS will not play. Apparently there is no option for MP3 like zune had. Just read through the comments here XBM is DOA. I am canceling my music pass and why shouldn't I, it doesn't support my zune hd, it doesn't support my win7 desktop, and it did nothing for my WP7.

Two things I would really like to see are an Xbox Music/Video Windows desktop client (yeah right) and the ability to play Smart DJ radio mixes for free on the phone client--like Pandora. Also, I'd like to see podcast support. Why doesn't MS take all the good already done in Zune and port it over? The technology belongs to them, after all. Nevertheless, Xbox Music is getting better.